Saturday, September 28, 2013

Kumusta!
So this week has felt super long, but also really fast at the same time. It's been a kind of off week because we moved to West Campus, Raintree, on Tuesday, and we've been adjusting ever since then. I'm not sure if I like West campus as much yet, but I know that I will soon. The food is already 20 times better, so that's nice haha. We now live in the Raintree apartments with another district, so there are 11 of us sisters living together, but it gives us a chance to get to know the other district more. We have a living room too now, which is nice because I can go and work out there in the mornings instead of outside which is freezing cold now! There is snow on the mountains, and I'm just dreading the point when there is snow on the valley too. But Sister Anien has never seen snow before, so that would be cool if it snowed for one day, and then got warm again haha. Good thing I'm going to the Philippines, because I already don't like this cold weather! But the West campus is nice! Our classrooms are a lot smaller, but we are in the same apartment for class as the district older than us, and they are so funny, so we get to hang out with them a lot more now. We also got new missionaries this Wednesday! We got three more districts, one is all sisters, and another is all elders! Sister Sawada and I are the new Sister Training Leaders, so we got to welcome them, and show them around the new campus when they first got here. It was a little funny because, we're still trying to figure out where everything is too, but we can all learn together!
My favorite part of this week has definitely been my scripture studying and devotional time. Elder Clark from the 70 gave the devotional this Tuesday, and he said so many great things! A lot of his talk was about the blessings we get from missionary work, not just for ourselves and investigators, but how it can bless our families back home too. I know that this is true, because I've already seen how my family has been blessed! Mom, I'm so excited for you getting that perfect house, and that Brigham is coming home from his mission today!! The Lord really is mindful of all of us, and He will never let us down! Then during my scripture study yesterday, I randomly opened and started reading in Alma 38, and I felt like the whole chapter was talking about my life! It was so awesome, and I want all of you to read it!
Ok well yeah, this week wasn't too exciting, sorry! But I do have a new address now, so make sure to keep writing me! It's
Sister Stacey Bangerter
Oct 21 PHI-BAG
2025 N 900 E Unit 920
Provo, UT 84604
and you can still write me dear elders, but make sure that you choose West MTC!
I love you all so much, thanks for the letters and the packages Mom and Tammi!!
Alam ko po na Diyos ang ating ama sa langit, at totoo ang simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Kumusta!
Ok so after I got done emailing last week, I realized how lame it was and that I really didn't tell ya'll anything! So I've been writing down stuff that happens throughout the week so that I remember what to say by the time I get to email home. Ok first things first, lets go back to the first day that I came into the MTC. I was so excited to be here and not homesick at all. But everyone that I talked to kept telling me, "it's ok if you hate it, or if you're homesick, or if you want to cry all the time". Well thanks people, I didn't really feel like that at all, but maybe I should? Haha the only kind of scary part was how my teacher didn't speak any English to us at all for about the first 4 days. I didn't understand any of the Tagalog that he was telling us, but it was just fun to try and catch on. But anyways, so on the first day that I'm here, I'm going around, doing all the stuff that you do when you first enter the MTC like going to meetings, and meeting my district. Then it was dinner time, and we're just trying to make conversation and get to know one another, when all of a sudden, I drop my entire wrap that I was eating right on my lap! Like the whole tortilla exploded and I got chicken and dressing and tomatoes all over my skirt. Yeah, classic me haha, but I know the Lord was on my side that day because you miraculously couldn't even tell that I had just spilled like half a thing of ranch on my skirt! There wasn't anytime for me to go back to the residence hall and change, so I had to go the rest of the day with my dirty skirt, so I was glad that it wasn't that bad! But, I'm proud to say that that has been my only embarrassing moment in the MTC so far, knock on wood!
Also, on my first P-day here, me and Sister Sawada got to be escorts for Sister Anien when she got endowed in the temple for the first time! I'll talk more about my kasamas later, but it was such a cool experience to be able to explain and help Sister Anien in the temple session! I love going to the temple here, it's the only time that I can just calm down and not have a million tagalog words running thorough my head at once!
Ok, now here's a little bit about my district! So there are 4 elders and 5 sisters, and I'm in a companionship of three people. I like being in a trio a lot, because we all get along and it makes it so much easier when we teach lessons, because we can split it up between the three of us. My kasamas are Sister Sawada and Sister Anien. Sister Sawada is from Hawaii, is half japanese and half white, and went to BYU for her freshman year like me. We have some mutual friends, but she lived in Helaman Halls, so I never saw her at BYU. We have so much in common though, and we're already fast friends! I definitely got lucky to have her as one of my companions because she's super sweet, funny, and helps me to work harder. She's really good at picking up the language and memorizing things, so we try to speak in Tagalog a lot, and we've memorized Our Missionary Purpose in English and Tagalog, and we're 2/3 of the way done with memorizing Joseph Smith's first vision in Tagalog! She's a really great missionary, and I can talk to her about real world stuff too haha because we like the same music, movies, and tv shows! Then Sister Anien is super sweet and nice! She is from the Marshall Islands, but she has really good English. She's pretty quiet, but she always laughs at our jokes, and knows a lot of the American shows and music that we like so we have a connection haha! The other sisters in my district are Sister Tapusoa and Sister Lawham. I love Sister Tapusoa! She is like my poly twin from St. George, and she's so dang funny! She was in the MTC in May, but she tore her ACL playing basketball and was home for three months, but is back at the MTC now. She is going to Baguio too, and her Tagalog is already really good because she was here for three weeks before she got sent home. She definitely brings our comic relief at the end of a hard day! She brought this stuff called Lihingmui to the MTC which is some Hawaiian plum powder that you put on food to give it a sweet yet savory taste. I am addicted to this stuff, it's so good!! We have put it on almost everything, gummy worms, pinapple, lemonade haha you name it! Sister Sawada even snorted it one night lol, yeah the things we do to keep us entertained here! I have a video of it, but idk if it will send ha. But yeah, Sister Tapusoa is awesome. Then her kasama is Sister Lowham and she's from a small town in Montanta. She's the oldest out of all of us, but also the shortest haha she's really sweet and a great missionary! She's also going to the Baguio mission with me, Sawada, and Tapusoa, so I will probably see her still once I'm in the field. The elders in our district are so great! I don't really know them that well yet, but they are just so funny! They're all 18, except for Elder Rujke who is from the Marshall Islands too. Him and our district leader, Elder Waldren, have become good friends, and it's so cute to watch them interact becasue Elder Waldren is this like 6 foot 3, skinny white guy, and Elder Rujke is this really small frobably 5 foot islander guy haha they are so different but get along so great! Then, there's Elder Loitz. Oh Elder Loitz, he is a funny kid, but I love him so much! Sometimes, you can definitely tell that he's only 18 when he can't sit still, relates everything to Star Wars and has to draw pictures to help him memorize stuff haha. But then once he bears his testimony, or even says a simple prayer, you can feel his spirit so strongly, and I know that he believes this church is true. He has been sick since day one, and really misses his family, they send him a package literally every day. But he was definitely meant to serve a mission because he is just such an amazing missionary. I had to practice teaching with him yesterday, and I was just blown away by how much he knows about the Gospel, and how well he can explain it. The people in the Philippines will really be blessed by him!
I've also seen a ton of people here that I know which has helped when things start to feel monotonous. The first day I got here, I saw Belgica Alvarez, and later in the week we took a little 53rd ward picture with Bel, Stephen Grossen, Hyrum Dean, Emily Meridith, Mikayla Burton, Weston, and some other people from our ward. I've also seen Kai Robbins that used to live in Sherman 2nd ward! She was sitting in front of me during Relief Society! I haven't seen her since I was probably in middle school, so that was cool to catch up! I also saw Elder Natey Batey haha and I see him just about every day now since he's here for 9 weeks to go to Thailand. It's really fun seeing all these people that I know, and it makes me so happy that we're all going on missions and serving the Lord.
So the days at the MTC are superrrrrr long, but the weeks go by really fast. I can't believe that this is already my second P-Day, and I've learned so much in just this first week! Most of the day, I'm in classes and studying tagalog or preparing a lesson. It can be really draining and my brain gets so fried, but it's all worth it when I have that spiritual confirmation that this work is amazing and I will know Tagalog! This is why Tuesdays are my favorites though. On tuesday, we have a break in the day when we can have personal exercise time and do a service project. We do our service projects on Saturday nights though, so on Tuesday, we basically have designated nap time :). I love naps. They are good for the soul, and help me to keep my sanity. I get such little sleep here because I wake up at 5:45 to workout in the morning and then we are going non-stop thorughout the day. It's been especially hard these past couple of days because I got sick, so it's been kind of hard for me to fall asleep at nigh. but all is well! I would much rather get sick while I'm in the MTC than in the Philippines. I think I overdosed on vitamin C yesterday though. Sister Sawada gave me some "chewable" vitamins, so I ate one, and yeah it was definitely not a chewable haha but then I just went ahead and took the other 3 before I read that you're only supposed to take 1 a day haha whoops! I've also been drinking those emercen-C things and eating a lot of cough drops, so hopefully it won't get any worse!
Well other than being sick right now, I really do love the MTC. It is very hard, but I'm up for the challenge! The Lord always provides a way for us to do the work He has called us to. I get a little frustrated with Tagalog at times, but I know that I'm just expecting more out of myself than the Lord really expects of me. He knows my abilities and what I'm capable of, and I really have learned so much for only being here a week. I know that the only way that I could be as far along with the language as I am is because of the Lord and the holy ghost. Alam ko po na ng totoo ang simbahan! I'm so happy to be a missionary and servant of the Lord :)
Thank you so much for everyone who has been writing me and sending me dear elders!! It makes me so happy when I get letters and especially packages :)!! Thank you MC for the picture book!! That was so thoughtful,and my companions and I have been reading it out loud every night since I got it haha it's like our little story time! And Thanks Tammy for the cookie, it was delicious as always, and Shanoah for the cupcakes (sister Tapusoa says thanks too :)) and pictures! For those of you who haven't written me, WRITE ME PLEASE, I will write you back and I have nice stationary too ;) haha well I hope that all is well back home, stay safe and remember to thank the Lord for all that you have beacause He really does do so much for us!

Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

P.S- I am moving to West Campus this Tuesday, but my address won't change yet, I will let you know when it does!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Pamilya and friends! Kumusta!
I still cannot believe that I'm finally here in the MTC! All I can say is that I love it so much! I had no idea what to expect when I first walked through those doors, but it has not been as hard and trying as I had thought. I mean it is a lot of work and no sleep, I am up and studying and going to classes from 5:45-10:30 each day, but it is so much fun and I love it so much already! Even though I've only been here for three days, I feel like it has been weeks haha. But it's amazing and I love it! Ok so to tell you a little bit about what's going on. I am in a district with 5 other girls and four boys. Four of us sisters are going to the Baguio mission. I am in a tri-companionship with mga kasama Sister Sawada from Hawaii, she went to BYU last year too and lived in Helaman halls, she's awesome and I love her! And then my other kasama is Sister Anien from the Marshall Islands, she is so sweet, and will be getting endowed in the temple today, so Sister Sawada and I will be her escorts! My district is really cool and everyone is so nice. Our language teacher told us that we are a very reverent class which I really like because you can tell that we all are trying very hard to study the language and be great missionaries. Most of the Elders in our district are 18, so it's kind of weird that I am one of the older ones haha but they are so mature spiritually, and are such great missionaries already! So far everything that we have done here has been about studying the language or practicing teaching by the spirit. On the very first night we were able to do this teaching experience where a big group of us went around and taught investigators about the church. It was an amazing experience and made me realize my purpose here as a missionary, and that is to bring others unto Christ. The only way we can do that is by helping others to feel the spirit, and I can truly say that the spirit it real and powerful!! This church is true and I can't wait to share it in Tagalog! We did have our first lesson in Tagalog last night, luckily though we could use our notes, so we kind of were banking off of that the whole time haha. It was super scary though because I literally didn't know anything our investigator Joan was saying to us. We had all of this stuff prepared, but we didn't plan on her asking us any questions back for some reason. So we had her read a scripture, and then she asked us a question about what the Espiritu Santo (holy Ghost) was. Yeah, we were not prepared for that at all, so I tried to explain in my Taglish haha and I could definitly feel the espiritu santo in that moment because I was able to remember some words in Tagalog, and she understood what I was trying to say. Then the same thing happened when we asked her to pray at the end, and she said no! Yeah again we didn't plan for that, so Sister Sawada explained to her in Taglish how to pray and then said a really good prayer in mostly Tagalog. Again we could feel the spirit and it ended up being an okey lang lesson haha. Tonight we have to teach her again with no notes, so I'm really scared for that one, pray for me please!!
So yeah, the MTC is an amazing place, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's weird to see BYU and my old dorms, but everytime I walk outside and realize again that I'm finally inside the MTC, it just makes me so happy! I've also seen a lot of people from my BYU wards here, so it's really fun to see people that knew me as Stacey and not Sister Bangerter, that's still a weird one to me. It's also weird to be with my kasama all the time, especially when there's three of us, but we're getting better!
Thanks Brooklyn, Sara, Katie, and Elder Dunn for the letters, they seriously made my day! Everyone else, you're slacking so write me!!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Kumsta! Well today is the day, I will officially be set apart as a full-time missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I feel so blessed and honored to be going to serve the people in the Philippines. I have been waiting for this moment to be able to serve my mission from the time that President Monson announced the age change, and now it's finally time for me to leave. I love this gospel so much, and I am more than ready to announce to the world that it is true! Letters are treasures for missionaries so please write me! You can dearelder me at:

Sister Stacey Bangerter

OCT23 PHI-BAG

2007 N 900 E Unit 8

Provo, UT 84602

My other addresses are on the sidebar of this blog, so please write me people, no excuses! I love you all and I'll see you in 18 months :)

About Me

Kumusta! I have been called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Baguio Philippines mission. Welcome to my life and adventures in the Philippines for the next 18 months!